Railway car door track



F. V. DE HAVEN RAILWAY CAR DOOR TRACK Filed May 19, 1930 2 Sheets-SheefI l y U, 1935. F v DE HAVEN RAILWAY cARDooR TRACK Filed May 19, 1930. 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 10, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application May 19, 1930, Serial No. 453,693

4 Claims.

My invention relates to railway car doors and particularly to doors of the type mounted on roller or ball bearings.

The main object of my invention is to provide a door having a horizontal reinforcing or bracing or framing device extending from end to end of the door and providing spaced track-ways for engaging the anti-friction bearing which supports the door through the horizontal framing device. It is also desired to protect the antiiriction element and its carrier track from the weather and from dirt and from injury by contact with external objects.

These and other detailed objects of my invention are attained by the structures illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure l is a partial side View of a railway box car having a sliding door including my invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 2 2 of Figure 1.

Figures 3 to 8, and 14 to 16, inclusive, are similar sections illustrating modiiications of my invention.

ligure 9 is a vertical transverse section taken W on the line 9-9 of Figure 1.

`Figures 10 to 13, inclusive, are similar sections illustrating modications.

The box car side wall I may be of any usual construction, steel or wood or composite, and is provided with the usual door opening 2. The sliding door 3 may be of any desired construction, steel or wood or composite. In the detail sections I show a door having its upper and lower portions comprising steel sheets 4 which may or may not have reinforcing elements 5 extending along their edges.

In Figure 2 I illustrate a two part framing, housing and track-way device overlapping and secured to the lower edge of the door. One of the members or the device is a vertically disposed hat plate S, the upper portion of which overlaps the lower edge of the door sheet 4 and the lower portion of which extends downwardly below the door sheet i forming an extension thereof.

The other member of the device has a ange 'I overlapping the upper portion oi plate 6 and the lower edge of the door and extending outwardly and upwardly, as indicated at 8, and then outwardly and downwardly, as indicated at 9, and then downwardly, as indicated at IB. This member has a general Z like shape with one of the flanges secured to the door and the other flange paralleling plate t? and the web being distorted to form an inverted V. The assembled device has a general inverted U shape and is secured to the vertical irarne members 52 of the door and constitutes a rigid bottom frame member. It also forms a housing for receiving the anti-friction element I I and upper portion of an angle I2, the horizontal leg I3 oi which forms a carrier track for the ball-bearing which supports the door.

The inverted portion 8-9 provides spaced track-ways I4 for engaging spaced bearing circles, on` the ball, of smaller radius than the radius of the ball whereby, when the door is opened or closed, the movement of the ball along its carrier track will be greater than the relative movement of the ball and door. This avoids the ball reaching the end of its trackway on the door before the door has reached the limit of its movement, which would result in sliding movement of the ball on the elements engaged thereby, and this arrangement also avoids teetering of the door on one of the balls due to the failure of the balls to move to points suciently close to the ends of the door. It will be understood that these undesirable results are likely to attend the ordinary bearing arrangement where the radius of the supported portion of the anti-friction element is the same as the radius of its supporting portion.

Figure 3 illustrates a very similar structure eX- cept that the inclined elements I5 have ribs I6 provided on their lower surfaces forming raised track-ways for engaging the ball I'I. This structure has the advantage of maintaining a desired spacing of interengaging surfaces on the ball and track-ways, irrespective oi wear on the latter, and

also has the advantage of providing a restricted n track-way which is readily dened for inspection or machining purposes. The ribs I6 are so arranged that the shape may be rolled. in the usual manner whereby this main portion of the device may be produced in the most desirable form.

In the modification illustrated in Figure 4, the inner plate element I8 is offset inwardly of the door and the outer Z member of the device does not have its webv I9 deformed to form an inverted V. It is provided with spaced track-ways by means of the depending ribs 2li.

In the construction illustrated in Figure 5, I use a standard rolled Z shape 22 which cooperates with the iiat vertical plate 23 to form an inverted U. shape housing. Preferably, spaced track-ways for ball 24 are provided by securing an inverted channel shape 25 `to the lower face oi the Z web.

The structure shown in Figure 6 is very similar to that illustrated in Figure 5 but it utilizes a differently shaped channel 26 with inclined flanges, the sides of which engage the ball 21 whereas channel 25 in Figure 5 shows the ends of the flanges engaging the ball 24.

In the construction illustrated in Figure 7, the Z member 28 has its outer flange 29 offset in part, as indicated at 3i), to provide one trackway 3l. Il'ie other track-way is provided by a separately formed angle 32 secured to the web of the Z.

In the construction shown in Figure 8, I illustrate a form of my invention which utilizes a roller bearing element 33` in place of the ballbearing elements previously described. 'I'he midolle portion of the roller rides on the carrier track 34 and the end portions of the rollerrare reduced in diameter Yand support the door device through spaced track-ways provided by the anges of the channel 35 secured to the web ofthe Z36.

All of the above described details are designed particularly for application to the bottom of the car door but my invention is also adapted for application to the top of the door.

In Figure 9 I show a framingand track-way forming device having a main vertical leg 31 overlapping and secured to the upper portion of the door. This device has an inwardly extending flange portion 38-39-40 which extends over the ball 4l and its supporting carrier track 42 and provides track-ways-IJS veryY similar to the track-ways indicated in Figure 2.

Figure 10; illustrates Ya modification in which the upper portion of the framing device Mis horizontal and-two depending ribs 45 form the track-ways for engaging the supporting ball.V

Figure 11 illustrates a similar structure in which the ribs 46 are arranged reduced ends of rollers 41.v y

In Figure 12the framingdevice Vconsists of a standard angle iron t8 and the track-Ways are provided by a channel 49 secured to the horizontal leg of the angle. This is similar to the arrangement shown as applied to the bottom Vof the door in Figure 5.

Figure 13 illustrates a similar karrangement of an angle 55 and a channel 5| arranged for a roller bearing instead of a ball-bearing. Y

Figure 14 illustrates a modification of the lower track member in which I show a Z bar framing member 53 having an Vupright flange applied to the outer face of the wooden door panel 54 and having aV depending flange forming the inner guide for engaging the trackr 55. A separate plate 55 is secured tothe upstanding flange of' the Z and engages the outer face of the track 55. The spaced track-ways 51 for engaging the anti-friction supporting element 58 are providedA horizontal vweb of the Z.

In Figure 15 I illustrate a T bar 65 applied to the lower edge of the door body panel 6| with its leg extending horizontally outwardly from the by forming a depression 59 in the relatively thick e door. Y A separate angular member 62 is rivetted to the leg or the T at 63 and forms the spaced track-ways 54 for riding on the anti-friction bearing element. Y Y f Y Figure 16 illustrates a modification in which the reinforcing member S5 resembles in part the structure shown Vin Figure 2 and also `resembles the structure shown in Figure 15 in that it has a depending element v56 on the inside of the track 5l'. In this form of my invention the entire framing device consists of a single element which can be rolled or otherwise formed to the shape shown. f

In all of these forms of my invention, the lower edging or framing structures described in detail will, preferably, be directly connected to and cooperate with other framing members such as vertical Z bars,las indicated at 52, (see Figl) to provide a rigid door structure. Y

In this connection, I here direct attention vto my copending applications, Serial Nos. 453,694 and 453,695 led herewith, and illustrating Vvarious other arrangements ofV door framing and trackforming devices embodying some ofthe to ride on theV features described and illustrated in this specification. a

- While I consider the use of the plate members 5, l8,'and 23, etc. in combination with the Z shape members 'as the preferred construction forming 5 a housing for enclosing the carrier track and anti-friction element, it will be understood that Y this ,complete Vstructure is not essential to the embodiment of vall of the elements of my invention and some of the desirable features may be 10 retained without the use of these plates. Attention is directed also to the fact that the reinforcing members may be formed by casting, forging or bending, or machining from a solid bar, as well as by rolling although the latter is prefer- 15 able and usually would be the most economical for my purpose.

Various other modifications in the details of my invention may be made without departing from the spirit thereof and I contemplate the 2o exclusive use of such variations as come within y the scope of my claims.

I claim:

1. In a railway car door, a door panel, a flat substantially vertically disposed plate with its up- 25 per portion overlapping and secured to said panel and with its lower portion extending downwardly from said panel, another member having a vertical iiange overlapping said plate upper portion and extending from the lower edge of said iiange 30 outwardly and upwardly and then outwardly and downwardly to form an inverted V, then downwardly,' substantially parallel with said plate member, whereby a housing is formed having generally an inverted U shape and serving to rein- 35V -force the door across its lower edge, said housing also providing an angular upper portion forming spaced track-ways for an anti-friction supporting element.

2. A structure as set forth in claim 1 in which 40 said track-ways are in the form of integral ribs onsaid angular portion.

V3. In a railway car door, a downwardly projecting fiat element, a member having a vertical fiange overlapping and secured to the door but' 5 spaced above the lower portion of said element, said member extending from the lower edge of said ange outwardly away from the side of the door and then downwardly substantially parallel with said portion, said member being of substan- 50 tially uniform section throughout its length and extending from front to back of the door to reinforce the same and also to form with said element a housing having an inverted U shape, the outwardly extending portion of said member be- 55 ing shaped to form spaced trackways substantially throughout its length for an anti-friction supporting element.

4. A sliding door framing member of rolled structure having a uniform section from end to 60 end comprising a generalZ-shape, the web of the Z consisting of relatively inclined portions forming a downwardly facing recess between them with rolled longitudinal ribs extending downwardly from the sides of the recess, one oi 65 the flanges of the Z extending vertically upwardly at one side of said web and having a fiat exterior to engage a door plate to which the member is applied, and the other flange of the Z extending vertically downwardly at the other side of said web to form the side of a support housing, the opposite lateral edges of said member terminating respectively in the planes of said flanges. 

